Local, Legend, Lifeguard: A tribute to Harry “Buzz” Mogck
We can learn a great deal about the journey of a person’s life from a yard sale. I came to this conclusion one late summer Saturday afternoon as I walked through the vast yard sale of a Cape May legend. The experience was, to say the least, bittersweet. Harry “Buzz” Mogck lived his entire life in Cape May. Perhaps he is best remembered as the long-time Chief of the Cape May Beach Patrol (CMBP).
Having first joined the CMBP in 1968 after returning from Army service in Korea during the Vietnam War, Buzz would spend the next half-century serving the city as a lifeguard, captain, and finally, chief. During his tenure, the CMBP transformed into the professional, highly trained, and most importantly, successful organization that it is today. Thanks to Mogck’s vision and leadership, the CMBP modernized, and as a result, Cape May’s Beach Patrol now sets the standard for others around the nation and has done so since it achieved national recognition from the prestigious United States Lifeguarding Association (USLA).
This recognition came because of Mogck’s vision. Thirty-year veteran lifeguard Bob Cwik credits Buzz with initiating the oft-dreaded “rookie test”, during which prospective guards are evaluated for their technical knowledge, fitness, and commitment. Those who fail to measure up are winnowed out. Cwik also recalls being dispatched, along with other lifeguards, to local schools to teach students about beach operations and safety as part of Mogck’s new beach safety program with the prestigious United States Lifeguarding Association (USLA). Mogck was also instrumental in initiating the Clete Cannone Scholarship, named for his predecessor, who was a teacher and coach in Millville. It is presented annually to past and present CMBP lifeguards and their descendants in memory of Captain Cannone.
Longtime friend, fellow lifeguard, and fishing buddy Denny DeSatnick recalls when the then-24-year-old Buzz returned after his military service. Together, they joined the beach patrol. While Denny went on to become a teacher and local entrepreneur, Buzz found his passion at the beach, and it was there he stayed. Focused on beach safety from the beginning, Buzz led by example and established a personal standard for professionalism, fitness, and training that he demonstrated, instilled, and demanded from all members of the CMBP. When Buzz was promoted to captain in 1981, lifeguards were typically only required to have a basic knowledge of CPR; he would change that. He insisted that lifeguards needed to be certified in lifesaving and CPR, while all officers were required to become qualified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs).
When DeSatnick and Buzz joined the CMBP in 1968, it had been an all-male force, but Buzz recognized that “the times were a-changing,” and hired the city’s first female lifeguard. This, of course, opened the door for countless qualified women to follow suit. And qualified is the key word! Not only did Buzz insist that all lifeguards be first and foremost rigorously trained in lifesaving techniques, but he required them to maintain a level of physical fitness needed not only to do the job but to represent the city in lifeguard competitions.
According to Cwik: “Buzz could be particular. For example, at the end of every day, all the lifeboats had to be pointed toward the lighthouse. Although there seemed to be no logical reason for it, Buzz felt that by so doing he could tell if the boats had been ‘messed with’ overnight.
“Buzz loved those boats like he loved his lifeguards,” Cwik continued. “And he treated them as if they were his own kids. He would drive down Pittsburgh to make sure that the supplemental lifeguard tower, positioned on the Pittsburgh beach, was visible from the middle of the street. This was probably only important to Buzz, but more than once during the preseason we had to move it because Buzz said that it wasn’t ‘quite right.’ Yep, Buzz ran a tight ship, but he always took care of his people and equipment. He never stopped loving the beach patrol, he was always buzzing around like a busy bee. According to his mother, that’s exactly how he got that nickname. As a child, he was always moving, like a busy bee, so people started calling him Buzz.”
The most dangerous time on the beach is after hours, when the lifeguards have left for the day. It was this realization that caused Mogck to institute an after-hours rescue program. He also sought to improve beach access for all visitors, including the handicapped, by making PVC surf-chairs widely available long before it became commonplace elsewhere.
“Buzz was not one to panic and he would exercise creativity and a calm head in very unusual situations,” Cwik recalls. He spoke of a most unusual beach find that washed ashore one crowded summer day at the Cove. “This kid carried a dark canister up to our stand. It looked like a fat Tootsie Roll, about a foot long and 6” in diameter. We were busy that day and I had no idea what it was, so I tossed it behind the stand, planning to dump it in the trash at the end of the day. My partner, a rookie, was curious and kept eyeing it; the thing was smoking! I radioed in and a lieutenant showed up on a Polaris ATV. I tossed whatever it was into the back of the Polaris and the lieutenant took it back to [lifeguard] headquarters. A few minutes later, a ‘clear the beaches’ order was broadcast, followed shortly by the arrival of the police, and the police were soon followed by the Atlantic City Bomb Squad, who detonated what had turned out to be a World War II munition.”
Cwik elaborates, “Given Cape May’s martial history, it is really no surprise that such objects show up occasionally. The next morning at roll call, Buzz calmly laid out a new protocol for any such future finds. I still remember what he said: ‘Radio beach control, secure the item, ensure beach patrons are kept a safe distance away, etc.’ and then very emphatically, ‘Whatever you do, don’t bring it back to me.’” Cwik laughs as he continues with what he calls, “Buzzy-isms.” Buzzy’s most famous saying was, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ This was the companion to a sign that he posted in the Grant Street Headquarters that read, ‘Makers make a way, Losers make excuses.’” Pausing, Cwik then added: “Yeah, Buzzy was famous for his expressions, like, ‘Are you challenging me?’
Another longtime friend and lifeguard, Ralph Atwell, had already been on the beach for two years when Buzz joined in 1968. “We hit it off right away,” Atwell remembers. “But we really came together as a rowing team. I always liked rowing surf boats. It’s hard, a real workout. Most of the guys didn’t like it much, but Buzz…he took right to it. To row around the island was a thing. We did it for exercise and in competitions.” When Atwell talks about “the island,” he means the whole island, starting in the harbor, rowing out Cape May Inlet, then along the beachfront, through the “rips,” up the bay side of the peninsula and finally back in the canal near the ferry terminal and winding up back in the harbor.
“To row around the island is still a thing to do,” Atwell continues. “Buzz and I became a team. We did it for maybe 20 years.” At this point, Atwell’s voice softens, saddens, “We had not rowed together for a number of years when in 2018, Buzz told me that he wanted to row around Cape May with me for his 75th birthday. I couldn’t believe it; Buzz wasn’t in the best of health. I tried to argue, but you didn’t say no to Buzz – nobody did! He was a tough guy, a strong competitor and so determined. So, we did it! We rowed around the whole island.” The sadness returns to Atwell’s voice as he adds, “Five years later, he told me that he wanted to do it again, now for his 80th. But by then, he had broken a hip…and well…On October 9th, his 80th birthday, we met at the Lucky Bones boat ramp. He managed to slide into the surfboat and off we went. Not the whole island, mind you. We rowed out into Cape Island Creek, and then came in along Wilson Drive, but he did it! That was Buzz.”
The honor of Harry “Buzz” Mogck’s life was when the city of Cape May renamed Grant Street BeachMogck Beach and dedicated it to him in recognition of his half-century of service to the city and the Cape May Beach Patrol. Appropriately, this past summer, on July 1st, Cape May hosted its popular annual, “SuperAthalon.” Now renamed the Harry “Buzz” Mogck Memorial SuperAthalon, the event has been held every year since 1982 when Buzz first envisioned it as Cape May’s version of an “Iron Man” competition. A “run-row-swim” event unique to the Nation’s First Seaside Resort, the SuperAthalon melds a 2.4 mile run with a 1.5-mile row and ¼ mile swim that concludes, appropriately enough, at Mogck Beach.
Denny DeSatnick’s son, Todd, offered this simple and succinct summation for Buzzy Mogck’s life: “Salt water and salt air…there you have it.”
